CBDRM PROGRAMS START FOR TEHSILS OF PUNJAB

Lahore: The Director General, Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) Dr. Rizwan Naseer said on Monday that after establishing an integrated emergency services infrastructure essential for saving lives & providing the citizens with the right to timely emergency response and care without any discrimination, Rescue 1122 is now working for changing minds of the public to establish socially responsible; healthy, safer and more resilient communities in Punjab through Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM). He said that Rescue 1122 has rescued over 3 million emergency victims in all 36 Districts of Punjab and now implementation of CBDRM has been started in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for prevention of emergencies.

The NDMA & NIDM representatives including Brig. (reted) Sajid Naeem; Capt. Asif Iqbal (r) and NIDM Capacity Building Specialists Waseem Ahmed and Head of Community Safety Wing Ms Roqiya Bano Javed were also present on inaugural ceremony of a weeklong training course planned for Emergency Officers (EOs) and Rescue & Safety Officers (RSOs) for Tehsils of Punjab. 

The CBDRM course has been organized by the NDMA and Rescue 1122 for capacity building of the Emergency Officers and Rescue & Safety Officer for implementation of this program in all Tehsils of Punjab. The aim of CBDRM program is to reduce vulnerabilities and to strengthen people’s capacity to cope with the disaster risks, they face in respective areas. The direct involvement of the community members in undertaking local level risk reduction measures is integral for establishment of safer communities across the Punjab. The objectives of the training are to initiate; formalize, and develop Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs), to make available trained human resources during disasters across the province, introduce the concept and share the experience among the participants, and plan out the future capacity building training events for CERTs teams. 

DG Rescue Punjab Dr Rizwan Naseer said that Rescue 1122 in collaboration with NDMA has planned to implement this program on grass-root level for establishment of safe; healthy and resilient societies in Punjab. He said that the training comprehensively deals with risk /hazard assessment, vulnerability assessment and capacity development; formation of Disaster Risk Management plan at community level, community based multi-hazard early warning and dissemination mechanisms, school evacuation plan and community evacuation plan. He stressed to Rescue Safety Officers to transfer these skills at the community level so that socially responsible, healthy and resilient communities could be developed.